Andrea Vance's new book will need a new chapter. Willis and Luxon can't keep a story straight, from one interview to the next. Who's running this shambles?
And if anyone needs reminding …
Here's my commitment to you. When I become Prime Minister, I'll reverse Labour's tax grab, National will repeal each of these tax increases implemented by Labour.
Very simple B&W messaging, details are not important (aka noise). What people hear is: Labour = more tax, less money and National = less tax, more money.
The question reminds me of the answer given by the then President of the Collingwood Football Club in the AFL when the League demanded that every team had to have two jerseys (or guernseys in the local vernacular). One would be for home games and one for away matches. This did not go down very well with the Magpies who had been wearing their black and white vertically striped jersey since 1884.
The then President announced that they would go along with the rule by wearing black and white stripes for home games and white and black stripes for the away ones.
There was a later minor compromise made but unless you were a Collingwood follower you probably wouldn't have seen the difference in the two types.
Willis said National had been "consistently clear that [we are] the party that stands for tax reduction".
The difference between National and Labour "couldn't be starker", she told RNZ, with Labour "determined not to provide any permanent tax relief to New Zealanders, preferring a band-aid payment".
Agree, and Labour have regularly made the same distinction but in terms of more services and support for those on lower incomes i.e. what the taxation pays for.
What a moment it must have been, when James Lovelock realised this:
"Earth, in contrast, was a living system that worked to maintain the atmosphere in violent disequilibrium with the planet’s geology. This, Lovelock realised, was the signature of life that could be highly useful as we searched for other living planets.", having first discovered this:
"Lovelock was at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, when the first analyses of the Martian and Venusian atmospheres were received. He realised immediately that they were very different from Earth’s atmosphere, in that they were at equilibrium with the planet’s geology. Venus and Mars, he concluded, were dead planets."
Tim Flannery rated him!
“James Lovelock was an inspiration and a mentor, a truly great man the likes of whom we shall not see again. Today, science is compartmentalised, collaborative, regulated and peer-reviewed in ways that do not sit well with the maverick. And yet there is a crying need for such people, especially those able to take the holistic view, as risky and uncertain as that sometimes is.”
TBF I have no argument with you about a pivot to severely less energy dense life (sustainable).
I think I heard this 20 or years ago. The idea reminds me of the hydro dam/environment tension from back in the day. Nature took a back seat so we could keep biggering. Ironically, now we claim our renewable energy supply to be green.
I'm aware of that irony too, and think about it fair deal. We are fortunate that Aramoana smelter and other projects that were going to be powered by the Clyde dam didn't go ahead. But the idea that we can keep flooding rivers has run it's course thankfully. Which brings us neatly to the limits of nature. At some point we might realise that working with nature enables us to meet our needs and create sustainable human communities. Hopefully soon.
Mystical spirit thinking ends up in techno-nightmare.
"….he [Lovelock] would happily store the waste (appropriately contained) from his lifetime use of nuclear energy on his veranda." gsays
Then what?
NUCLEAR POWER IS THE ONLY GREEN SOLUTION
James Lovelock – civilisation is in imminent danger. Published in The Independent, 24 May 2004.
….By all means, let us use the small input from renewables sensibly, but only one immediately available source does not cause global warming and that is nuclear energy.
In December leaders from around the world will meet in Copenhagen to try to agree on cutting back greenhouse gas emissions for decades to come. The most effective step to implement that goal would be a massive shift away from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy sources. If leaders can have confidence that such a transformation is possible, they might commit to an historic agreement. We think they can.
….. a 2009 Stanford University study ranked energy systems according to their impacts on global warming, pollution, water supply, land use, wildlife and other concerns. The very best options were wind, solar, geothermal, tidal and hydroelectric power—all of which are driven by wind, water or sunlight (referred to as WWS). Nuclear power, coal with carbon capture, and ethanol were all poorer options,….
A new seagrass restoration project is being trialed with the hope it can then create an effective way to plant more of it around Aotearoa and help fight climate change.
Seagrasses account for about 10% of the carbon our oceans store but only cover zero point two percent of the seafloor, it also absorbs carbon 27 times faster than forests on land.
Left to its own devices much of the farmland in Aotearoa would, over time, return to native forest. First the pioneer plants would appear – for example kānuka, manuka, karamū, māhoe. Able to deal with drier, hotter conditions in open areas, eventually they would provide the cover for the next round of trees to move in – maybe pūriri, rimu, rātā, tōtara. Brought by seeds dispersed by wind or bird, maybe from native bush nearby.
But this takes time. A lot of time.
Across three sites the AUT Living Laboratory project are investigating different ways of fast-forwarding this natural plant succession to get to the later, bigger trees earlier.
The phone documents also appeared to reveal Infowars’ long-hidden finances.
Bankston outlined several days in 2018 in which Infowars made over $800,000 per day. Jones did not dispute the veracity of the emails or the dollar figures, but claimed some of their higher-profit days came during the week of CPAC, the conservative conference.
The January 6th House committee is preparing to request the trove of Alex Jones’s text messages and emails revealed Wednesday in a defamation lawsuit filed by victims of the Sandy Hook massacre, Rolling Stone has learned.
On Wednesday, Sandy Hook victims’ attorney Mark Bankston told Jones that his attorney had mistakenly sent Bankston three years worth of the conspiracy theorist’s emails and text messages copied from his phone.
Now — a source familiar with the matter and another person briefed on it tell Rolling Stone — the January 6th committee is preparing to request that data from the plaintiff attorneys in order to aid its investigation of the insurrection. These internal deliberations among the committee, which is probing former President Donald Trump’s role in causing the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot, began within minutes of the lawyer’s revelation being heard on the trial’s livestream on Wednesday afternoon.
Alex Jones is an American conservative, alt-right, and far-right radio show host and prominent conspiracy theorist.
"In the years following the [Sandy Hook] incident, Mr Jones repeatedly claimed that the shooting was a ploy to push gun control measures and claimed without evidence that it had been staged by actors and the media."
Jones used the same tactics to deny evidence of massacres committed by Assad regime revealed by the White Helmets.
The same claims of fraud of staged rescues of using crisis actors to fake injuries the whole gamut of the fascist big lie tactic.
Good on the parents of the children killed at Sandy Hook for taking this modern Goebbels to court.
Unfortunately, there is as yet no legal mechanism where the victims of Assad genocide and war crimes can file charges in court against Alex Jones and the all the other liars and genocide enablers and war crime deniers to court.
However; To all you deniers and enablers of war crimes and genocide in Syria and Ukraine, take it from me, Alex Jones trial and conviction, is a fair warning to all of you, that a day of reckoning for you, and justice for all the victims of your lies will come eventually.
For the crime of preying on the gullible and spreading your fascist infection in Left forums;
….this series further looks at the methods and effectiveness of the red-brown and fascistic media ecosystem in infiltrating leftist spheres of influence. This will perhaps be the most controversial part of the series and the hardest to explain, which makes its message all the more important.
How Trolls and Conspiracy Theorists Spun the Syrian War
Digital defenders helped the Assad government cover up its crimes.
Among Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s most reliable allies are the armies of Twitter bots, trolls, and digital defenders who have been quick to spread confusion in the wake of his government’s atrocities. Russia has often been at the center of this disinformation campaign…..
……After the Syrian government used chemical weapons in northwest Syria in April 2017, pro-regime news sources accused the “Al Qaeda–affiliated White Helmets” of creating a false-flag attack. The theory was amplified by Russian media and spread online with the hashtag #SyriaHoax. American alt-right figures, who opposed President Donald Trump’s military response to the attack, ran with the fact-free version of events. Infowars called the White Helmets “an al-Qaeda affiliated group funded by George Soros and the British government.” That lie was shared on Twitter by Infowars founder Alex Jones and conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich and retweeted thousands of times.
So children are going undiagnosed, then as a consequence miss out on support like reader/writers, extra time, use of computers and other medical and education assistance there is. Thank you Do Litlle so you allocated some money appeared on your platform BUT this govt has totally FAILED again. Go back to your union job (the one that you are suppose to support workers- those workers who you are currently screwing) you are just someone taking space no better than a cardboard cutout in this government and destroying the future of Kiwis. This govt is SO OUT of touch with reality- and I add so are many who feature here🤬
Our son has had a similar thing occur in QLD Australia. His cousin has had a lung operation delayed x4 and the date moved out and told a private NSW hospital, when there is room. More the pandemic than incompetence imo. It is easy to blame the minister, harder to deal with covid impacts.
Blame the minister this commitment was made well before anyone new the existence of COVID. So now we have to just throw a cohort of those currently at school into the rubbish bin ?? That covers new entrance to yr 13.
when depts bid for money during the budget process must they and the ministers/govt also have some understanding that what is being asked for can be delivered. To me like the COVID 75k testing capabilities no one asked the obvious. So in that case yes it IS the minister/a at fault. They MUST be able to deliver, and with this govt once the announcement has been made there appears no care to fulfil.
National is calling it 'undemocratic' – though haven't seen a commitment to roll it back, when they are next in government (TBH – I haven't gone looking….).
One does wonder how, given the enormous scope of Ngai Tahu investments in the Canterbury area, the representatives can possibly vote on anything if they observe the conflict of interest rules properly.
By the way. Did you even read the story you linked to? This statement was also quoted in the last line of that link.
the enormous scope of Ngai Tahu investments in the Canterbury area
Do you happen to know the extent of this investment and how it compares with other institutional investments across Canterbury?
Others have run this line specifically regarding dairy farming; they were incorrect, Chinese investment in Canterbury dairy farms dwarfs that of tangata whenua.
Paora Goldsmith got skewered at QT about this a couple of days ago (HT Robert Guyton). For example:
Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: I'll get this House to cast our minds all the way back to the good old years of 2015, 2016, when the Rt Hon John Key was at the helm. You'll remember that it was that then National Government that stewarded through the Environment Canterbury (Transitional Governance Arrangements) Bill. That bill, if this House will recall, did one of two things. First, it ensured that there were democratic representatives elected to Environment Canterbury (ECan). Secondly, it ensured that Ngāi Tahu retained the right and the obligation to appoint two members to that entity. To quote, actually, a good friend of this House, the Hon Scott Simpson, "I think that probably one of the great hallmarks of this time"—
I'm not sure anyone predicted a 'race war', did they? Appointing people purely on the basis of an accident of birth would seem to a silly policy, rather than anything more sinister.
Certainly a message that dogmatic Woke Cultists urgently need to hear (but, of course, their inherent narcissism, self-righteous delusions of grandeur & love of indiscriminately wielding power over others renders them deaf to all critique)..
Critical Theory's crude, distorted, low-resolution view of the world guaranteed to engender massive new forms of social in-justice (& to further entrench already existing ones).
Luxon withdraws commitment to increase in health spending to match inflation.
Willis says no decision has been made on whether this will be done.
So did Luxon speak without knowledge of the processes for making these decisions?
Has anyone noted that with an aging population and the cost of pandemic management (medical impact of deferred treatments) would mean merely matching inflation costs would result in a decline in our health system (and a complete inability to deal with staff shortages and a growing waiting list).
As for National's missing in action, but still loud in the media, they are no better.
Paula for my benefit Training Incentive Allowance by not for women after me Bennett – she says she would have given no one the cost of living increase but noted those on benefits had lower income than those getting the money.
She also would not have given the real increase of benefit levels made 1 April 2022 or the power income supplement either …
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. nuclear chief warned that Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine “is completely out of control” and issued an urgent plea to Russia and Ukraine to quickly allow experts to visit the sprawling complex to stabilize the situation and avoid a nuclear accident.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press that the situation is getting more perilous every day at the Zaporizhzhia plant in the southeastern city of Enerhodar, which Russian troops seized in early March, soon after their Feb. 24. invasion of Ukraine.
“Every principle of nuclear safety has been violated” at the plant, he said. “What is at stake is extremely serious and extremely grave and dangerous.”
“I’d be very surprised if Corbyn has actually spoken to Ukrainians or even knows any…."
Oleksandra Povoroznyk
What Ukrainians Think About Jeremy Corbyn's Ukraine Interview
Chris York, Byline Times, 3 August 2022
“A lot of people in the West are denying Ukraine any sort of agency by claiming we’re constantly being manipulated by NATO or saying it’s a US proxy war and the West is forcing us to fight. None of these people are actually paying attention to what we’re actually saying. It’s sad and annoying.”….
“If you’re willing to strike a peace deal with Russia now at the cost of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, you should think about what kind of security system you’ll end up with: a system that rewards colonial conquest, genocide and blackmailing of the rest of the world with famine and nuclear war,”….
….“We didn’t attack anyone – we are defending our homes, land and sovereignty,” Natalia Haidai, a Russian-speaking Ukrainian from Bucha, told Byline Times. “[Corbyn’s] argument is that Ukrainians should surrender or be unable to defend themselves and be literally wiped out. I thought he was for solidarity for oppressed people?
Jeremy Corbyn in his statement on Ukraine, repeatedly refers to Ukraine as, "the Ukraine" as if Ukraine was a region, not a country.
(As in, 'in the Waikato'. As opposed to 'in New Zealand'. For instance if someone told you a man was found, 'in the Waikato', instead of, 'in Waikato', you could be excused for thinking that they were found in the river, (not the region.)
Whether he did it consciously, or unconsciously, Ukrainians found Corbyn's referring to their country as a region offensive and insulting.
Kathryn Graber explains why.
It’s ‘Ukraine,’ not ‘the Ukraine’ – here’s why
The Conversation: March 10, 2022 2.18am NZDT
For most of the 20th century, English speakers referred to “the Ukraine,” following Soviet practice. That’s not the case now. Ukraine’s official name in English does not include “the,” and for good reason.
Ambassadors, commentators and historians have tried to explain the change, but not everyone has gotten the message.
So let me try. I’m a linguistic anthropologist and an expert on language politics in Russia. I’m also bilingual in Russian and English, so I understand the subtleties of the distinction.
What is at stake? Nothing less than the political sovereignty of Ukraine…..
…..It might seem innocent, but it’s not.
…..To a Ukrainian worried about the nation-state’s territorial integrity, that little word “the” might suggest that the speaker does not much care whether Ukraine is an independent state. Like it or not, and intentionally or not, the language a person uses reflects their political positions, including their position on Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty.
…..So, does Putin say na Ukraine – “in the Ukraine” [like Corbyn]– or v Ukraine (“in Ukraine”)? [like everyone else]….
…..make no mistake: Putin is arguing that Ukraine’s sovereignty is a historical fiction, and he is underscoring his point by referring to events happening “na,” not “v,” Ukraine. English speakers don’t have to follow him by saying “the.”
I’ve explained that the policy requires you to supply evidence for claims. If you don’t want to work within the kaupapa of the site, I will just ban you. Your choice.
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
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TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
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It's the National party, as duplicitous as ever:
Tax policy launched loudly … and then dumped quietly
Andrea Vance's new book will need a new chapter. Willis and Luxon can't keep a story straight, from one interview to the next. Who's running this shambles?
And if anyone needs reminding …
Here's my commitment to you. When I become Prime Minister, I'll reverse Labour's tax grab, National will repeal each of these tax increases implemented by Labour.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/462810/christopher-luxon-s-state-of-the-nation-speech-government-needs-to-stop-its-tax-grab
Very simple B&W messaging, details are not important (aka noise). What people hear is: Labour = more tax, less money and National = less tax, more money.
That's not what people hear today. The Herald link above was clear, but here's another:
National has quietly ditched its proposal to cut taxes in order to tackle the cost of living crisis.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/live-updates/04-08-2022/national-quietly-parks-proposed-tax-policy
What they're hearing is not "B & W messaging", but the opposite.
What is the opposite of "B & W messaging"?
Lol is it "W + B" ?
The question reminds me of the answer given by the then President of the Collingwood Football Club in the AFL when the League demanded that every team had to have two jerseys (or guernseys in the local vernacular). One would be for home games and one for away matches. This did not go down very well with the Magpies who had been wearing their black and white vertically striped jersey since 1884.
The then President announced that they would go along with the rule by wearing black and white stripes for home games and white and black stripes for the away ones.
There was a later minor compromise made but unless you were a Collingwood follower you probably wouldn't have seen the difference in the two types.
My Australian cousin's a 'Pie'. I reckon he could tell the difference.
Older brother was a massive Collingwood fan (eclipsed only by his loyalty to Liverpool FC (UK football) & St George Dragons (NRL)).
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/472216/labour-and-national-go-tit-for-tat-over-tax
I hear a B&W message, consistently.
Agree, and Labour have regularly made the same distinction but in terms of more services and support for those on lower incomes i.e. what the taxation pays for.
What a moment it must have been, when James Lovelock realised this:
"Earth, in contrast, was a living system that worked to maintain the atmosphere in violent disequilibrium with the planet’s geology. This, Lovelock realised, was the signature of life that could be highly useful as we searched for other living planets.", having first discovered this:
"Lovelock was at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, when the first analyses of the Martian and Venusian atmospheres were received. He realised immediately that they were very different from Earth’s atmosphere, in that they were at equilibrium with the planet’s geology. Venus and Mars, he concluded, were dead planets."
https://theconversation.com/inspiration-mentor-and-a-truly-great-man-tim-flannery-farewells-scientist-james-lovelock-who-has-returned-to-gaia-at-103-187846
Tim Flannery rated him!
“James Lovelock was an inspiration and a mentor, a truly great man the likes of whom we shall not see again. Today, science is compartmentalised, collaborative, regulated and peer-reviewed in ways that do not sit well with the maverick. And yet there is a crying need for such people, especially those able to take the holistic view, as risky and uncertain as that sometimes is.”
Lovelock is a great thinker and presented a great environmental argument for nuclear.
He opined that our concern with nuclear is the waste. Contrast that with gas/coal emissions that we ignore but will kill you immediately.
He reckoned he would happily store the waste (appropriately contained) from his lifetime use of nuclear energy on his veranda.
hard to see how given the longevity of the waste. What happens to it if civilisation fails and it can't be looked after?
There's also the issue of plant failure like Fukushima. You'd be a brave politician or MP to consider nuclear generation in the Shakey Isles.
It's not a choice between nuclear and coal/gas. It's a choice between nuclear and sustainable/resilient.
TBF I have no argument with you about a pivot to severely less energy dense life (sustainable).
I think I heard this 20 or years ago. The idea reminds me of the hydro dam/environment tension from back in the day. Nature took a back seat so we could keep biggering. Ironically, now we claim our renewable energy supply to be green.
I'm aware of that irony too, and think about it fair deal. We are fortunate that Aramoana smelter and other projects that were going to be powered by the Clyde dam didn't go ahead. But the idea that we can keep flooding rivers has run it's course thankfully. Which brings us neatly to the limits of nature. At some point we might realise that working with nature enables us to meet our needs and create sustainable human communities. Hopefully soon.
Mystical spirit thinking ends up in techno-nightmare.
"….he [Lovelock] would happily store the waste (appropriately contained) from his lifetime use of nuclear energy on his veranda." gsays
Then what?
Rather than take the advice of a whacky pseudo greeny mysticist to go nuclear we would be better served to follow the science.
In the first link ( which I had the good fortune to hear on Radio ! ) Cawthron Institute lead scientist for this project, Dana Clark talks to Jesse.
Lotsa money in gay frogs, penis pills and Hillary's plan to chemically castrate Trump voters with chemtrails.
https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1554864067508060160
The phone documents also appeared to reveal Infowars’ long-hidden finances.
Bankston outlined several days in 2018 in which Infowars made over $800,000 per day. Jones did not dispute the veracity of the emails or the dollar figures, but claimed some of their higher-profit days came during the week of CPAC, the conservative conference.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alex-jones-lawyers-accidentally-leak-years-emails-infowars-financial-d-rcna41378
The video. Would love to have seen his lawyer’s face.
https://twitter.com/briantylercohen/status/1554882192961982465
Jones' lawyer is either incompetent, or he really doesn't like his client.
https://twitter.com/SebastianMurdoc/status/1554863674271191041
And then there's this.
https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1554874905526734848
The January 6th House committee is preparing to request the trove of Alex Jones’s text messages and emails revealed Wednesday in a defamation lawsuit filed by victims of the Sandy Hook massacre, Rolling Stone has learned.
On Wednesday, Sandy Hook victims’ attorney Mark Bankston told Jones that his attorney had mistakenly sent Bankston three years worth of the conspiracy theorist’s emails and text messages copied from his phone.
Now — a source familiar with the matter and another person briefed on it tell Rolling Stone — the January 6th committee is preparing to request that data from the plaintiff attorneys in order to aid its investigation of the insurrection. These internal deliberations among the committee, which is probing former President Donald Trump’s role in causing the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot, began within minutes of the lawyer’s revelation being heard on the trial’s livestream on Wednesday afternoon.
https://archive.ph/dEM7U (rollingstone)
Not that I think that Jones is a nice person – but he really does have a case against his lawyer for malpractice.
Alex Jones is an American conservative, alt-right, and far-right radio show host and prominent conspiracy theorist.
"In the years following the [Sandy Hook] incident, Mr Jones repeatedly claimed that the shooting was a ploy to push gun control measures and claimed without evidence that it had been staged by actors and the media."
No sympathy here…he deserves a crap lawyer.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62415376
other people don't though if this is negligence.
Agreed…I doubt if his lawyer will have people queueing up after this.
Jones used the same tactics to deny evidence of massacres committed by Assad regime revealed by the White Helmets.
The same claims of fraud of staged rescues of using crisis actors to fake injuries the whole gamut of the fascist big lie tactic.
Good on the parents of the children killed at Sandy Hook for taking this modern Goebbels to court.
Unfortunately, there is as yet no legal mechanism where the victims of Assad genocide and war crimes can file charges in court against Alex Jones and the all the other liars and genocide enablers and war crime deniers to court.
However; To all you deniers and enablers of war crimes and genocide in Syria and Ukraine, take it from me, Alex Jones trial and conviction, is a fair warning to all of you, that a day of reckoning for you, and justice for all the victims of your lies will come eventually.
For the Crime of killing the truth;
https://thesyriacampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/KillingtheTruth.pdf
For the crime of preying on the gullible and spreading your fascist infection in Left forums;
It gets better.
https://twitter.com/RealKellyJones/status/1554883582837096454
https://theconversation.com/amp/mental-health-wins-record-funding-in-new-zealands-first-well-being-budget-118047
thank you to the NZ govt after a 3 year wait we have been informed that 1 member has been taken off the waiting list and we will have to find other options. Well if you are taken of a list what other options are there ??
So children are going undiagnosed, then as a consequence miss out on support like reader/writers, extra time, use of computers and other medical and education assistance there is. Thank you Do Litlle so you allocated some money appeared on your platform BUT this govt has totally FAILED again. Go back to your union job (the one that you are suppose to support workers- those workers who you are currently screwing) you are just someone taking space no better than a cardboard cutout in this government and destroying the future of Kiwis. This govt is SO OUT of touch with reality- and I add so are many who feature here🤬
Our son has had a similar thing occur in QLD Australia. His cousin has had a lung operation delayed x4 and the date moved out and told a private NSW hospital, when there is room. More the pandemic than incompetence imo. It is easy to blame the minister, harder to deal with covid impacts.![angry angry](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/angry_smile.png?x42494)
Blame the minister this commitment was made well before anyone new the existence of COVID. So now we have to just throw a cohort of those currently at school into the rubbish bin ?? That covers new entrance to yr 13.
when depts bid for money during the budget process must they and the ministers/govt also have some understanding that what is being asked for can be delivered. To me like the COVID 75k testing capabilities no one asked the obvious. So in that case yes it IS the minister/a at fault. They MUST be able to deliver, and with this govt once the announcement has been made there appears no care to fulfil.
So as of yesterday Ngai Tahu can now appoint 2 to Environment Canterbury.
Anyone notice the race war break out yet?
This is just a continuation of existing policy, is it not?
National is calling it 'undemocratic' – though haven't seen a commitment to roll it back, when they are next in government (TBH – I haven't gone looking….).
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/472178/new-law-gives-ngai-tahu-right-to-appoint-two-environment-canterbury-councillors
Well according to Paul Goldsmith
"He said it would create a precedent, and promised National would repeal the law if it won the next election."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/129454384/historic-moment-as-parliament-votes-to-allow-ngi-tahu-to-choose-environment-canterbury-appointees
One does wonder how, given the enormous scope of Ngai Tahu investments in the Canterbury area, the representatives can possibly vote on anything if they observe the conflict of interest rules properly.
By the way. Did you even read the story you linked to? This statement was also quoted in the last line of that link.
Do you happen to know the extent of this investment and how it compares with other institutional investments across Canterbury?
Others have run this line specifically regarding dairy farming; they were incorrect, Chinese investment in Canterbury dairy farms dwarfs that of tangata whenua.
Guess I missed the quote. I'd seen the 'opposed' bit, but my eye must have skipped across the promise to repeal.
Paora Goldsmith got skewered at QT about this a couple of days ago (HT Robert Guyton). For example:
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/document/HansS_20220802_051360000/11-question-no-11-justice
But there are many references in that transcript to the previous National Government and how they set this up in the first place.
I'm not sure anyone predicted a 'race war', did they? Appointing people purely on the basis of an accident of birth would seem to a silly policy, rather than anything more sinister.
You've missed the Chris Trotter and Martyn Bradbury columns then.
I must have.![smiley smiley](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/regular_smile.png?x42494)
Anyone going to the "FARC off Brian" counter protests this weekend?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/08/brain-tamaki-s-freedoms-and-rights-coalition-auckland-protest-will-be-met-with-farc-off-brian-counter-protest.html
Nope putting up election hoardings as usual.
“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster."
Nietzsche
https://chng.it/q2Dzz2fF5d
President Zelensky needs to heed the warning given by Nietzsche
“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster."
Nietzsche
I honestly thought you were replying to Muttonbird @ 7.
Fits.
.
Certainly a message that dogmatic Woke Cultists urgently need to hear (but, of course, their inherent narcissism, self-righteous delusions of grandeur & love of indiscriminately wielding power over others renders them deaf to all critique)..
Critical Theory's crude, distorted, low-resolution view of the world guaranteed to engender massive new forms of social in-justice (& to further entrench already existing ones).
Yes.
Luxon withdraws commitment to increase in health spending to match inflation.
Willis says no decision has been made on whether this will be done.
So did Luxon speak without knowledge of the processes for making these decisions?
Has anyone noted that with an aging population and the cost of pandemic management (medical impact of deferred treatments) would mean merely matching inflation costs would result in a decline in our health system (and a complete inability to deal with staff shortages and a growing waiting list).
As for National's missing in action, but still loud in the media, they are no better.
Paula for my benefit Training Incentive Allowance by not for women after me Bennett – she says she would have given no one the cost of living increase but noted those on benefits had lower income than those getting the money.
She also would not have given the real increase of benefit levels made 1 April 2022 or the power income supplement either …
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/08/unions-lash-out-at-christopher-luxon-after-he-backtracks-on-health-funding-promise.html
And it's pissed Russian squadies by a length
/
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. nuclear chief warned that Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine “is completely out of control” and issued an urgent plea to Russia and Ukraine to quickly allow experts to visit the sprawling complex to stabilize the situation and avoid a nuclear accident.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press that the situation is getting more perilous every day at the Zaporizhzhia plant in the southeastern city of Enerhodar, which Russian troops seized in early March, soon after their Feb. 24. invasion of Ukraine.
“Every principle of nuclear safety has been violated” at the plant, he said. “What is at stake is extremely serious and extremely grave and dangerous.”
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-science-accidents-d2e0077af104f2692b76f737c58e1984
Useful idiots are found on every rung of the political ladder.
Jeremy 'Peace in our time' Corbyn
(Appeaser is such an ugly word)
“I’d be very surprised if Corbyn has actually spoken to Ukrainians or even knows any…."
Oleksandra Povoroznyk
Putin's Poodle
Jeremy Corbyn in his statement on Ukraine, repeatedly refers to Ukraine as, "the Ukraine" as if Ukraine was a region, not a country.
(As in, 'in the Waikato'. As opposed to 'in New Zealand'. For instance if someone told you a man was found, 'in the Waikato', instead of, 'in Waikato', you could be excused for thinking that they were found in the river, (not the region.)
Whether he did it consciously, or unconsciously, Ukrainians found Corbyn's referring to their country as a region offensive and insulting.
Kathryn Graber explains why.
My clarifications in Parenthese […] J.
Jeremy Corbyn in his statement on Ukraine, repeatedly refers to Ukraine as, "the Ukraine" as if Ukraine was a region, not a country.
Oh, what a hideous crime! He should tried as a war criminal when the war is over, (if that day ever comes).
David Parker takes down Willis in QT today. Classy.
https://ondemand.parliament.nz/parliament-tv-on-demand/?itemId=227116
I also liked Hipkin's quick quip about bowing to Bishop's superior knowledge of scams!
Though it gave the speaker a bit of trouble sorting it all out.
I love the way he acts out the role of the village idiot when he is widely believed to be the brightest bulb in parliament.
Your prejudice is so obvious that it’s blinding
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
I’ve explained that the policy requires you to supply evidence for claims. If you don’t want to work within the kaupapa of the site, I will just ban you. Your choice.